THE first national museum to be built in the North-East will be known as the Shildon Railway Village, it was announced yesterday.

Famous around the world as "the cradle of the railways", Shildon, in County Durham, will house a slice of industrial history in an £8m offshoot of York's National Railway Museum.

Up to 50,000 visitors a year are expected to flock to the venture after it opens in 2004.

The development will combine the historic buildings and workshops of the Timothy Hackworth Museum with a new 6,000sq ft building housing 60 vehicles from the National Collection, a shop, caf, classrooms and conservation workshops.

Outline designs are being submitted to planners next Friday and work could start in the autumn.

Earlier this year the Heritage Lottery Fund confirmed a £4.9m grant for the project, on top of an earlier grant of £350,000 from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

NRM head Andrew Scott said yesterday: "Shildon is steeped in railway history. It was the birthplace of Britain's railways, home to one of their foremost pioneers, Timothy Hackworth, and the hub of the industry in the North-East for generations."

Sedgefield Borough Council leader Brian Stephens said: "The Shildon Railway Village will bring new pride and much needed business into the area. Shildon is destined to be a railway town once more."